Fair Housing Act

Many communities have affordable housing programs designed especially for older people on fixed incomes. The idea is to allow them to maintain a good quality of life in a safe, welcoming environment. But what if you have to be a resident of the community to qualify for affordable housing – and the community happens to be 85 percent white? Does that amount to discrimination based on race? >> Sign up for the AARP Money newsletter Yes, the U.S. Justice Department argues …

Imagine that you’ve lived in the same neighborhood for most of your life. Your friends, your family, your personal history are all rooted there. Sure, the neighborhood isn’t as desirable as it once was. It’s fallen on hard times, and there’s a lot of crime. But it’s home. Then the town decides that your neighborhood is a dump. It wants to make the working-class area more upscale by “revitalizing” it, but that means displacing you and your neighbors, most of …